Regis Jesuit's Michael French goes up for a shot in the lane over Mitch Parsons of Chaparral.

AURORA — There was perhaps no more pertinent and timely chant than the one that emanated out of the Regis Jesuit student section as the clock ticked down on the Raiders’ 74-67 win over Chaparral[1] on Friday night.

“Num-ber One,” the students shouted in unison. “Num-ber One.”

It was alternatively a taunt and a boast.

Chaparral (18-3) had just become the second top-ranked 5A squad to succumb to the Raiders (17-3) on their home court within a week. Is there any question that Regis Jesuit should now take its turn atop the coaches’ poll[2]?

“Oh yeah,” said Josh Perkins, who scored a career-high 34 points in the win, “definitely.”

“I hope so,” added senior Tanner Samson.

As big as the win over No. 1 Chaparral was for Regis — and here’s to hoping these two teams meet again in the state tournament — it was even bigger because it means the Raiders, at 9-0, have seized control of the viciously-deep Continental League. Chaparral, meanwhile, falls to 8-1 — just ahead of No. 4 Highlands Ranch (Regis’ previous victim atop the polls) and No. 8 ThunderRidge.

“That’s the great thing about our league: We’ve got some terrific teams,” said Regis coach Ken Shaw. “I know that there are some teams out there that are going through their leagues and there’s not much competition. We’ve got some wars with the teams in our league and that can do nothing but help us when we get to the playoffs.”

“It’s definitely one of the toughest leagues throughout the state,” Samson added. “We’ll be ready.”

News and notes from the Regis-Chaparral showdown:

Early on, Perkins and Chaparral guard Cory Calvert turned the game into their own private gym, trading deep 3-point shot after deep 3-point shot. There was a point in the second quarter where the game went from 25-25 to 31-31 after four consecutive possessions of the two trading 3s.

The game featured nine lead changes and nine ties.

After a furious rally to end the first half — including Brandon Malone’s steal and layup at the buzzer for Chaparral — the two teams went scoreless for the first two minutes of the second half. Chaparral didn’t score until four minutes were gone, yet still led 54-49 at the end of the third quarter.

Regis’ Shaw on Samson’s intangibles: “Tanner’s thought of as a long-range shooter, and obviously he does that well, but he’s our best rebounder, finds a way to get a hand on loose balls. In a game like this, obviously, you can look at the scorebook, but basically, a lot of times it comes down to intangible things, things you can’t really stat. Like a loose ball, keeping a rebound alive, a tip-out, drawing a charge. Just little things that kind of gets the tempo and the momentum swinging your way.”